1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to laundry accessories and, more particularly, to novel systems, methods, and tools to keep socks matched during laundering.
2. Background Art
Laundry is a perennial activity in most households. Also, socks are historically difficult match. This is not simply because they sometimes look somewhat alike, but a greater problem. Typically, socks are a comparatively small article of clothing. They are often colored, sometimes is not. They often contain synthetic fabrics such as nylon, polyester, spandex, other elastic, and so forth. These and even natural fibers, such as wool, often generate static cling. This puts socks in the position of being captured by other articles placed in the laundry load with socks, whether “whites” or “colors.”
In colors will be found shirts, towels, and other comparatively larger objects. In whites may be found linens, towels, underclothing, and so forth. Static buildup during the drying process may cause small articles of clothing to cling to other articles, and not separate.
For example, towels or t-shirts may be withdrawn from a tumbling dryer and put in another basket for, or as part of, sorting. It is completely within the realm of contemplation that a towel may be folded with a sock clinging to the backside. Thus, the sock is not seen, does not produce a noticeable bulge, and is not found until the towel is removed from a linen closet for use.
Thus, by such modes and many others, socks may become separated from one another, and such as been the case forever. Unmatched socks are the bane of the laundry function in any household. Moreover, some socks are apparently never found. A lone sock may sit in a drawer waiting a mate for months or years. Thus, there exist common jokes about how gremlins reach into the washing process and remove one out of every two socks in a pair. Of course this is not true. However, such jokes illustrate the ubiquitous nature and severity of the frustration from the problem.
Thus, it would be an advance in the art to find a simple system and mechanism for binding two socks of a pair together reliably and releasing them readily on demand. It would be an advance in the art if this system and mechanism could function equally well in a wash cycle and a drying cycle. For example, dryers operate at comparatively very high temperatures over 250 degrees Fahrenheit (115 degrees C.) in order to vaporize water to evaporate out of the fabric of clothing being dried.
Meanwhile, agitation, detergents, and the water are problematic for metals. Thus, resistance to chemical attack, corrosion, and the like may be important for protection of the system and device. This may also be a concern so that socks are not stained by rust or other oxidation of metals.